It had been a long, arduous and stressful road trying to figure out what has been making Buck uncomfortable. There was a lot of trials with various foods, where it seemed that he could only have fish and a little bit of lamb. There’s a lot of medication from mild antibiotics, to herbal supplements and Pepcid and probiotics. It felt like we might have finally hit the mark with The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food.
After happily settling in Texas, Buck suddenly stopped eating but his energy level was normal and playful. I had doubts that it was the transition from the move, since I thought that it would have happened weeks earlier. I needed to do something though – was it the food, or was it loss of appetite… ultimately leading to something else? I tried using beef or chicken broth to add different flavors when hydrating his food. No luck. He was eating his salmon treats, and seemed to really be enjoying the dehydrated primal lamb brick that I crushed up. I headed over to the AMAZING Austin pet store – Healthy Pet and got Buck started on a raw diet with Primal Pet Food. The brand doesn’t make any formulas that are solely fish base, so I went with the lamb. I got the raw pellets to mix in with the Honest Kitchen food.
I gave Buck his dinner. He refused to eat. I felt defeated – until I tried to give him a pellet not mixed with the fish. He chomped it up. I scooped out all the lamb pellets from his food and Buck lapped it up. From that point on it was just raw lamb mixed with water! He had one off day during the transition – since it was done cold turkey and not gradual I was expecting that. After a week, I introduced rabbit, which I now alternate with the lamb every other day. Next month, I’ll rotate two other proteins, maybe lamb and chicken, then the following month chicken and rabbit. Buck is a super picky eater and WILL get bored with his food and snacks.
I’m beginning to wonder – is this IBS & IBD? Research shows that lamb is one of the fattier meats and not recommended for dogs with this problem since it’s harder on the body to digest. I do know that he has issues every time he eats a certain amount of beef, so regardless, we will stay away from that
I have been able to stop giving Buck Pepcid, and I’m hoping to gradually get him off the other meds as well.
My dog now walks around with happy tail – which was usually reserved for special occasions, and will come over to me just to kiss my face. You’ll frequently see him with a smile on his face. It’s only been a few weeks, so we’ll have to see if this lasts, and if I can introduce other proteins as well. Having a sweet, loving happy dog 100% of the time, is my #1 priority, and I hope that I have finally figured it out! We have a vet appointment with a holistic/western med vet coming up – so I’m eager to see how that goes.
If anyone’s dog is suffering – there’s so many wonderful dog foods on the market. I still love the Honest Kitchen – but sometimes you need to find the right type of diet – kibble, wet, dehydrated or raw, for your pet. But more than anything, it takes A LOT of patience!
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